Would You Be Insulted By a Lowball Offer From a Buyer?

[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_text]

[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ last=”yes” spacing=”yes” center_content=”no” hide_on_mobile=”no” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” background_position=”left top” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_position=”all” border_size=”0px” border_color=”” border_style=”” padding=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”” animation_speed=”0.1″ animation_offset=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_youtube id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/8gMJ8B02Slo” width=”600″ height=”350″ autoplay=”no” api_params=”” class=””/][fusion_text]

If you were selling your home & a Buyer gave you a low-ball offer how would you feel? 

What would you do?  Would you ignore it?  Would you be offended?

The media and a very hot Sellers market has definitely influenced Seller expectations. 

There is no question Sellers expect to get full asking price when selling their home. 

And in a Seller’s market like the one we’ve had here in the GTA for the past while, if your home is priced properly (ie. at market value) as a Seller you should expect to get full asking price. 

In fact, thanks to the media and social influence, some Sellers list with the expectation of getting more than fair market value. 

Don’t get me wrong. It’s often that we see Seller’s getting more than asking price. 

In most of those cases the listings were under-priced to generate multiple offers. 

See my other post: “Over Asking Price vs. Over Fair-Market Value“!

It’s important to distinguish the difference. 

While we often hear of listings being sold over asking price, I’ve also seen (and in fact succeeded for my clients) getting homes sold for more than fair market value when Buyers get carried away. 

However, in less competitive markets, and cases where a listing might have been priced a bit too high, Buyers try to get a deal by submitting a low-ball offer. 

The first reaction for many Sellers is to ignore the offer or walk away rather than try to negotiate.

Actually, their first reaction is to say they’re insulted. Then they choose to ignore it or walk away. 

As a Certified Negotiator (and someone who also teaches negotiating) I always remind Sellers of two very important points:

1. Being insulted is an emotion. 

If you ask any trained negotiator, they are trained to remove all emotion from any negotiation. 

In fact that is one of the many reasons it’s important to hire a Realtor who is skilled at negotiating and not try to sell your own home. 

Emotions get in the way of logic and good decisions. 

Any decisions about money, business, or major life changes should be made on facts, logic, and reliable information.

Emotion must be left out. 

2. The first offer is rarely (if ever) the final offer or best offer. 

In fact, everyone wants to think they tried to get a deal. 

You have to admit that if you were a Buyer you’d probably do the same thing. 

You wouldn’t want to think that you paid more for a home (or anything for that matter) than you had to. 

Negotiating is a skill. While it isn’t a game it can be compared to a game like poker. 

It’s about strategies, carefully considering every move you make, understanding your opponent, and trying to predict your opponent’s next move. 

Whether you’re property has been on the market one day, one week, or one month, if you’ve had a decent amount of showings then it’s fair to assume the first person willing to make you an offer is also the person most passionate and excited to buy your property. 

The same way I encourage you to remove all emotion [as a Seller], as a trained negotiator, if I’m selling your home for you I will leverage that emotion a potential Buyer currently has for your home. 

In other words, leverage the Buyer’s emotion against them to get them to increase the amount of their offer from their initial starting amount.

Some Buyers will offer slightly less than asking price while others will offer drastically low offers to start with. 

The only thing we can determine from these two scenarios is that these Buyers have different negotiating styles themselves. 

Many sellers make the mistake of choosing to do nothing with a lowball offer. 

Especially if they have many showings in the first week on market. 

They’re confident they will get another offer or better offer within a few days. 

But, as they say … there are no guarantees in life. 

I’m NOT saying  you should accept a low-ball offer. 

As a Seller you ultimately have the choice whether you accept an offer or not. 

But at the very least, you should remove emotion, and if you’ve hired a good negotiator, let your agent try to negotiate that offer higher than the starting point. 

Sure, it’s nice to only have to negotiate back and forth one time to reach a price you can agree on, if & when possible. 

But if a Buyer submits a lowball offer and your Realtor has to negotiate back and forth a dozen times, while the process might be time consuming and even frustrating at times, it doesn’t matter where you start. 

It’s the end result is that matters. 

What if going back and forth a dozen times results in you ultimately getting a higher amount from that first Buyer, than if you chose to ignore it and what you ultimately would get from the next Buyer who comes along?

If you want to know more secrets to negotiating the sale of your home, I’d be happy to chat with you. 

[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]